Recent Paintings

I thought I should publish a few of my recent paintings to show that I just don't paint tomatoes. I am doing this tomato exercise to make me a better painter and to learn how to use color more successfully. If you compare these to paintings from 2 years ago, I think it had been a valuable exercise. In the back of my mind, I think I hoped that these exercises could generate some discussion and possibly help others who are hoping to improve their understanding of color.

Aquinnah Sentinel
11" x 14"
This is such an intriguing house situated high above the ocean
on Martha's Vineyard overlooking Nantucket Sound

Rosie
NFS
This was painted for my friend Joyce,
Rosie died recently, she was 16 and my dogs
best friend, and one of mine too.

Butterfly Show
8" x 10"
This was painted for the Cincinnati Art Club
Exhibition coordinated with the Kron Conservatory
Butterfly Show

Tomato #161

Cadmium Orange, Sap Green, Dioxazine Purple and Titanium White

The last of this series, emphasizing the green yielded a really green tomato. I used more colors that you can see but without a yellow I had to rely on white to produce the light and keep it green. When adding the orange you get a nice warm brown and when adding purple the result is the background in #160. When I just added medium to straight Sap Green the result was a warmer green than when I added white, which turned the green cool. I tried to make the shadows warm to counter this. When comparing this tomato to the other two in the series, this one appears very different, which demonstrates just how versatile three colors can be.

Tomato #160

Cadmium Orange, Sap green, Dioxazine Purple and Titanium White

A tomato that reads purple-I was hesitant to try-but my favorite variety that I grow is Cherokee Purple-and it is purple and orangish-burgundy. This is as purple focused as I could get without it looking like a Disney Princess. It also amazingly looks like my real tomatoes. There is not much evidence of green and I did not use a lot-mostly in the background and the cast shadow. The background changed from warm brown (purple and orange) to intense purple to a muted purplish-brown in the finished product. The final result is much more convincing than I expected-I love using Cadmium Orange. It can be subtle without being muddy or very intense and can add so much life.

Painted August 30, 2010

Tomato #159

Cadmium Orange, Sap Green, Dioxazine Purple and White

This is the first in the series, focusing on the orange and it nearly drove me crazy. I had it early on and then tried to add a little more highlight and ruined it-ended up wiping it all off and started again-standing in the kitchen. I like the result-especially the background and the shadows. The background started out dioxazine purple with a small amount of the other colors but in time it overwhelmed the tomato-once I cooled it with green and white the tomato popped. I would have liked more color on the shadow side but I was happy enough and had spent too much time to mess it up. Sometimes you have to know when to stop-one of the hardest lessons to learn when painting.

Painted August 29, 2010

Tomato #158

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Red Light, Viridian Green and white

The last of the series, focusing on the Cadmium Lemon, this one was effortless. Again, I started with an olive mixed from all three colors and just kept adding lemon and white to shape the tomato. The background was the same olive with more red and the shadow side was more viridian. I think I would be happier if I could have gotten more warm color into it but it seemed to escape me on this one. As I've stated before, Cad. Lemon has such a tendency to green it is difficult to get it to be warm-but the whole idea is pushing and pulling warms and cools to accomplish this.

Painted August 28, 2010

Tomato #157

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Red Light, Viridian Green and white

This one almost sent me over the edge, several times I thought I had it and then one stroke and it was gone. I wiped it all off and mixed an olive green with all three colors and that seemed to work. I added lemon and white for the lights and viridian for the shadows. I ended up with that green cast shadow and I'm not sure if I like it. Again, much less intense than I anticipated. Viridian is so transparent it is easily taken over be whatever is added.

Painted August 27, 2010

Tomato #156

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Red Light, Viridian Green and white.

I think I must have a  mental block against Cad. Red Lt. as it took me two attempts to get an acceptable result. I seem to have trouble getting the right light without also getting mud. I think I finally got there but it is much less intense than I expected.This is another first in a series of three, using the red as my dominant color. The light area seems cooler and the shadow side seems warmer, but it seems to work. I especially like the cast shadow and how it changes from warm to cool. I had to paint this at night because I painted with the plein air group today at Alms Park. Great Location!

Painted August 26, 2010

Tomato 155

Cadmium Lemon, Quinacridone Red, Viridian Green and White

The third of the series, this one focuses on the green. This tomato does not show the other colors much. I tried to get more color into it, but as transparent a viridian is, it can hold it's own with these colors. The shadow side brings out the blue tones of Viridian as the top of the tomato shows the chartreuse that is the result of adding yellow and white. A wide range of blueish- green and olives can be obtained with these colors-could be useful for grapes, granny smith apples, limes and certain foamy ocean waters.

Painted August 25, 2010

Tomato #154

Cadmium Lemon, Quinacridone Red, Viridian and White

This tomato was the easiest and quickest I have done so far. It painted itself, and has all of the colors in the shadows. The light is very cool and harsh and was good for me to do for a change. I think the forward shadow side is quite successful and appears to have complex shadows, even though it is only a few strokes-which is how it is supposed to work. If you have never used Cad. Lemon before, consider doing so-it can give you a light often difficult to achieve with the warmer Cadmium Yellows.

Painted August 24, 2010

Tomato #153

Cadmium Lemon, Quinacridone Red, Viridian and Titanium White

I had to paint this at night and even though I use and Ott light and regular incandescent combined, colors often appears more intense than they do in daylight. I hope this looks as good in the morning as it does tonight. I am doing another series of three- this being the first. The Q. Red is my focus-the lemon and Q. Red make an intense coral and great light when white is added. The shadow side was first painted with all three colors and then I added a green/red mix-the purple is a result of this, as is the background and cast shadow. These colors can yield a realistic red tomato.

Painted August 23, 2010

Tomato 152

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Orange, Thalo Turquoise and Permalba White

This one was more difficult than the other two. It may be that the yellow can't compete with the strength of the thalo and the orange. The background color appears warm when contrasted with coolness of the tomato, I'm not sure how I came up with that nutmeg color-it is a combination of all three colors. These are great colors for a lemon. the shadows are warm by the bottom and cooled by thalo going up. There seems to be a lot of blue in Permalba white and when combined with the lemon it tends to take on a very green cast.

Painted August 22, 201

Tomato 151

Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Orange, Thalo Turquoise and Permalba White

Second in the series, where the first was almost monochromatic, this one is complementary, and these are the same colors. In comparison to other tomatoes, this series, even with it's warmest colors, seems cool. I think I am getting the hang of making shadows from colors instead of just darkening the color. I know I have plenty left to learn-but I'm encouraged with some progress. There is plenty of color on the shadow side AND there is shadow-Yeah!

Painted August 21, 2010

Tomato 150

Cadmium Lemon., Cadmium Orange, Thalo Turquoise and Permalba White

First in the next series of three, this one was painted with the emphasis on the thalo turquoise, not that that is hard-thalo turquoise is a very dominating color, as you can see it influences every part of this painting. Thalo and lemon make a brilliant green. I used quite a bit of orange to warm the shadow side and top of the tomato although it is not readily visible- results in a nice olive color. This tomato does have a cool atmosphere and these colors can result in quite a few off beat colors; none of which you would expect just looking at what is on the palette.

Painted August 20,2010

Tomato # 149

Cadmium Lemon, Quinacridone Red, Sap Green and Titanium White

Believe it or not , I actually used quite a bit of Q. Red here. The shadows are a combination of all three colors-just a tiny bit of lemon. The darks are Sap Green and Q. Red , for the most part. Adding lots of whit and medium gave me the background; which I think could be darker. Looking at these colors on a palette would not suggest this tomato as an end result. Having done this series of three (147, 148 & 149)

using the same colors with different emphasis is one I might continue with,I feel much more familiar with these colors and more confident in the results I can expect.

Earlier tomatoes

I was out all day painting with the South West Ohio plein air painters so I have not yet painted my daily tomato. It will be too dark to photograph when I do finish so here is a collage of some of my earlier ones from my Cad. Red Lt. and Cad. Yellow Pale Series. They make quite an impact when all together.I taped them all up on the wall in the cottage at Chappy so the light was great

148 Tomato

 Cadmium Lemon, Quinacridone Red, Sap Green & Titanium White

Same colors, different emphasis, pushing the green. It never ceases to amaze me how the same colors can yield so many different results. The red really shows in the shadows-contrary to the red is usually the warm and green is the cool.The yellow is used to bring the green up and also warms the shadow on the side of the tomato. I like how the colors recede on the tomato. I think it could benefit from a little more heat on the top, but I couldn't get there with Cad. Lemon as it already has a green cast.

 #147-Cadmium Lemon, Quinacridone Red, Sap Green & White

I am still a chicken-I am not pushing the color relationships as much as I need to. I am still happy with th resultas a painting of a tomato, but would have liked to put more green into the body of the tomato. Q. Red and Sap Green make a very nice brown. the more I use Q. Red, the more I like it. I bought it because of what Tina Tammaro said about it  (although I don't remember what it was-consult notes). I have never used Cadmium Lemon so this has been valuable in introducing me to these colors-8-17-2010

My First Blog

This is my first blog-I'm a little nervous, but here goes.I've been painting for quite some time-for a long time with watercolors-but the last 5 years I've been working in oils. I am still struggling with values and color relationships so, I decided to make my own color charts; at the same time I was trying to finish a painting of tomatoes and having a hard time getting one of them to work. I decided to do a couple of small color "sketches" to help solve my problem. Well, combine color charts and problems tomatoes and I ended up with a daily tomato color chart if you will. I have now painted 146 tomatoes (the first ones are almost embarassing) I thought I could share what I learn-and hopefully learn from others-so here we go